S. M. Lindley Biography


	This biography appears on page 1849 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	S. M. LINDLEY, of Bonesteel, Gregory county, is a native of the 
Hawkeye state, having been born on the parental farmstead in Iowa. He 
grew up under the sturdy discipline of the homestead farm and his 
educational advantages were such as were afforded in the public schools 
of the locality. He continued to be associated with the work of the 
parental farm until he had attained the age of nineteen years, when he 
set forth to seek his fortunes in what is now the state of South 
Dakota, being attracted by the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, to 
which district he made his way. He there remained a few months and then 
located in Charles Mix county, where he took up government land and 
gave his attention to farming' end stock raising. He was an influential 
factor in the public affairs of that section, having been elected 
county commissioner when but twenty-one years of age, while he also 
served as county clerk and register of deeds. He continued to reside in 
that county until he disposed of his interests there and came to the 
new county of Gregory, settling near Wheeler and in the immediate 
proximity of the embryonic village of Starcher, where he served as the 
first postmaster. He has ever been a stanch advocate of the principles 
of the Republican party, and was the one principally instrumental in 
securing the introduction of the legislative bill providing for a 
treaty with the Indians for the opening of the Rosebud reservation to 
settlement. Mr. Lindley was a member of the legislature in 1901, and 
there gave most effective service in the interests of his constituency, 
and he was also a member of the Republican state central committee. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while h1s religious views are 
in harmony with the faith of the Episcopal church, in which he was 
reared, his wife being a communicant of the Catholic church. Mr. 
Lindley was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Marshall, of Charles Mix 
county.